The new Flickr’s great, but is it enough to change habits?

I joined Flickr back in January 2006. The photo-sharing site was a little less than two years old then, and had been acquired the year before by Yahoo. I really didn’t start uploading pictures to it more than a year later, when I got my first smartphone, a Samsung Blackjack. The oldest photo in my Flickr photostream (that I took) is of a stack of cabbages.

Back then, Flickr was the best option for sharing photos easily. However, it was very desktop-centric, and after the iPhone reinvigorated the smartphone revolution, Flickr got left behind by companies like Instagram and Hipstamatic, which made mobile sharing a snap, and big social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Flickr didn’t even have an official mobile app until September 2009, when it released one for the iPhone.

Nevertheless, over time I found my use of Flickr waned, particularly as my use of Twitter expanded. That’s where I shared photos with friends, though occasionally I used Flickr to share with family members who weren’t on Twitter. But for the last couple of years, I’d pretty much ignored Flickr, and even let my $24-a-year Pro subscription lapse.

On Monday, Yahoo took the wraps off a dramatically revamped Flickr. Fresh off its $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr announced earlier in the day, Yahoo showed off an overhauled Flickr during an event in New York, and suddenly this venerable service is a contender once again.

All users now get a full terabyte of storage, with images available for viewing at full resolution. The storage is free, paid for by advertising. Flickr updated its Android app to match and even exceed the features found in the older iOS app.

Gone is that $24 Pro account, though users who don’t want to see ads can pay $50 a year for the privilege. That’s more than a doubling of the Pro annual fee, but the cost really goes up if you need more than a terabyte of storage. The new Doublr account for 2 terabytes prices out at $500 a year. You can see a comparison of the plans here, and that same page explains what happens to those who have paid for a Pro account.

Note that existing Pro accounts still have unlimited data usage. For now, existing Pro account holders can renew when those accounts expire, but that may not last forever. No new Pro accounts will be sold.

This is a pretty sweet deal, and at the very least, Flickr now becomes the best place to back up and store your photos online, thanks to its terabyte of space. If you’re serious about photography and want your photos seen in full-res, Flick may also be a draw.

But is it enough to lure casual photographers back for photo-sharing? The grips held by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are powerful, built on habit and momentum. Once you start sharing images on one platform, it’s hard to get your friends and family to look elsewhere for your snapshots.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has said that mobile is Yahoo’s future – indeed, it’s every online service’s future – and that’s where Flickr must shine to make this resurrection a success. Sharing photos needs to be seamless and fun from any smartphone. The new Android app is a good start on that platform, and with iOS, Yahoo may want to seek the same kind of integration into Apple’s mobile operating system that’s currently enjoyed by Facebook and Twitter. Time for coffee with Tim Cook, Ms. Mayer.

I’ll probably take time this weekend to upload my favorite photos to Flickr. But the real test will come when I’m ready to take a picture I want to share. Will I launch the Flickr app to do it, or will I continue my habit of snapping, then posting to Twitter? I’ll give the new Flickr a chance, but habits are hard to break.